‘No evidence’ of loyalist threats after Belfast council vote on Irish language

There is “no evidence” of threats of violence from loyalist paramilitaries after Belfast City Council voted through a new policy to promote use of the Irish language, Emma Little-Pengelly has said.

The new draft policy aims to remove barriers to the use of the Irish language in public life, promote the learning of Irish, support the promotion of Irish through council facilities, programmes and events and take action to promote and protect the Irish language across its public-facing services.

It also includes a pledge for the council to adopt a dual-language approach to signage at all its facilities.

The policy comes with a two-year implementation plan and is expected to see a new identity and logo designed for vehicles and uniforms.

Around £1.9 million of funding has been initially earmarked for the measures.

Unionist parties opposed the policy, and are co-operating on a “call-in” mechanism within the council to force an official review of the decision taken at Wednesday night’s meeting.

It was reported on Sunday that loyalist paramilitaries had threatened to burn council buildings or vehicles displaying Irish signage in a bid to make the new policy unworkable.

However deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly told MLAs there is “no evidence” of that.

Speaking during questions for the Executive Office at the Assembly on Monday, Ms Little-Pengelly said she had spoken with Chief Constable Jon Boutcher that morning.

“He has confirmed to me that at this stage that they are not aware of any allegations, and indeed no evidence of that,” she told MLAs. “So we will have to see how that develops.

“It absolutely goes without saying, and I said it in this House many, many times, that any threat, any violence, any intimidation, any breaking of the law is wrong, and of course, that is my stance, no matter where that may appear.

“But in this case, an allegation has been made, I’ve spoken to the Chief Constable, there’s no evidence of such.

“But as I said, we’ll continue to keep an eye on that situation.”

Opposition leader Matthew O’Toole said “very serious allegations” have “put a chill down many across the Irish language community, particularly given the hostility that was expressed by your party for the democratic decision of the council”.

He added that her party’s co-operation with the Loyalist Communities Council is “deeply inappropriate”.

Ms Little-Pengelly responded: “The reality is what we are focused on are the issues that really matter to people, and what I find frustrating is when I’m standing here saying to you about the huge amount of work in order to reduce those health waiting lists, to support people to get the operations they need, to transform the Health Service, to fix the challenges within special education needs, to grow our economy, what you want to bring it back to constantly is where there is political disagreement on certain issues.

“The reality is all paramilitarism is wrong, it always was, it still is, and it will be in the future. There was never any justification for it, there was always an alternative, I could not be clearer.”

In a statement, the Police Service of Northern Ireland said: “We are aware of the media coverage and enquiries are ongoing.

“Whilst we won’t comment on specific threats we never ignore anything which may put an individual at risk.”